I have a colleague. Let’s call her Miss IN. Miss IN is the only colleague that really “gets” my jokes. My friends can “get” my jokes. Not my colleagues. But Miss IN is the exception. Because today I said KL is having three long weekends in a row and it’s more rare than the eclipse (Eclipse just happened last week). She laughed very hard. I have not seen her laughed so hard before. Yes, she was “getting” my joke. Thanks, Miss IN.

X X X X X

We need a civic education more than a moral education. A moral education teaches values but the civic education teaches what are the right things to do and what are not. I may tell you about the values but you just listen. You may say you have these values but we never know because we never see its action. You may pretend to have these values. Let’s say, you donate money and said you are practicing the sympathy value. But in your heart, you probably have your own agenda. Probably because you want to lower your income tax. So the moral values are very surfaced things. You may see it in a person but you do not know how true and sincere it is in that person.

Civic values, on the other hand, can only be concluded when people do the right things:

1. Throw the rubbish into the designated bin.
2. Always queue up.
3. Respect other people’s private life
4. etc

Civic values are practical. If you do it right, you are civilized. But if you do the opposite, then you are not. The opposites:

1. Littering.
2. Cut queues.
3. Spread rumours about other people’s private life

It’s the outcome that we can see. An end to a mean. An action that brings benefactors. These are what we need to teach in our children these days. Action speaks louder than values. Why not directly teach them the right and wrong things instead of superficial values?